Still in Louisiana

The cold weather hit Louisiana. The nights got down to 40 twice now. I froze! The second night of it I just shivered and couldn't sleep at all. That night the cold hit me. So I had a pretty miserable ride the next day.
Louisiana on the back roads leaves a lot to be desired. Slums, trash on the roads, nothing decent to eat. "y'all must be from the north, we only fry our fish and chicken, no grilled here". When I asked what kind of vegetables a place had the reply was "white rice and French fries"! I crave fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Bob looks like he has lost about 10 pounds. I may have gained. I know I haven't lost.
Last night we stayed at a campground that no one would even believe. It was in Washington, Louisiana. The lady told us on the phone that it was the only place around but was great! They had showers and were even giving red beans an rice for supper at no extra charge. I took pictures of our campsite. It is picture perfect. Grassy field along a river. But what you won't see is the rest of the story. The rest rooms were worse than a third world country. There were two sinks. One had no water, the other only cold. When I turned it on spiders came rushing out. The paper towels were covered with thick black mold. I refused to try the filthy showers. I washed with the cold water hoping for better accommodations the next time. Then off for red beans and rice. Good thing it was so dark in the room that we couldn't see if other things were in it or not. We ate it and went to bed. I took some Thera Flu. Ron gave me his rain jacket to cover with, thinking that it was bigger and heavier than mine and would keep me warmer. I hit my thin bag and I was out! Slept the whole night and felt much better this morning.
We had planned to make this a short day. Dean had bike parts shipped to Ville Platte that had to be picked up. Bob is the mechanic so needed time to change the parts on Deans bike. We also have had some rubbing sounds on our tandem and he needed time to take it apart. So a short ride was planned for today.
Before we retired last night we had a group meeting. We have been riding so hard that we can't even take pictures. Some of us are not happy with riding just to get to the end point. Ron is a photographer and stated that he can't enjoy this type of travel. We push on just to end up in places like last night's campground. Three of the guys said they don't care to see anything and just want the rush of making the target as soon as possible. After a long discussion we agreed to hug them goodbye this morning. Harold, John and Brooklyn Bob left us. Ron has trouble with his knees too. He has done a lot of tours in Canada and Europe and the united states and has always enjoyed them more than this. We agreed that we wanted to have the time too. Penny stayed with us. She will only be on the ride about 10 more days. She actually doesn't have the same agenda but that's too bad since she decided to stay.
Tonight we are in the town of Mamou, Louisiana. Since there are no campgrounds or motels, Dean called the city hall here. The mayor said he had a place we could stay. He had a police car come out to meet us and escorted us to our "camp" . You would never believe it! We were brought to the slums of town. We are in a piece of a Mardi Gras float with our sleeping bags on the floor of it. We had to remove beer bottles, food scraps and needles first. We do have a nice porta John nearby. And the mayor brought us a garden hose to attach to the water supply. Of course the water spigget had no top. Good thing Bob had plyers. Instead of showering there in the open I washed up in the restaurant when we went to eat. Ron did the same. The police who escorted us out here said he would drive through a couple of times during the night to see if we were still safe. That's great! We have no phone service so can't call 911 if we need it. I feel like a genuine hobo tonight. Vickie and Jane, you both would just die. Madison, you would never survive!
I'm so glad I have service on my iPad! I can tell that I have voicemail on my phone but cannot access it without service. So if you left a message you'll have to wait till ???
Aubrey, I shipped thin mummy bags to your house and bought something heavier today when we finally came to a Wall Mart. Now it will probably be hotter than hell. No room to keep both on the bike.
Bikes are repaired. Ron had another flat today too. Hope we get all the bike problems over with before we hit the mountains.
Good night. Love all of you. Jack, be sure to tell Dad I haven't been able to call because of phone service. Hope I survive this night.